Motorola announced today through its official community blog that a RAZR "Developer Edition" (evidently based on the original Droid RAZR, not its newer MAXX counterpart) is in the works. The dev-friendly device will carry an unlockable bootloader and is poised to hit European markets relatively soon, with a (yet unspecified) unlockable device bound for the U.S. "in the coming months." Oddly enough, the blog post was pulled (perhaps it was published prematurely; Update: it's live once again), but luckily the text of the post has been retained:

We have some news for the community of people interested in unlockable/relockable bootloaders. Today, we announced a step forward in Europe with the availability of an unlockable version of our most in-demand product: the Motorola RAZR™ Developer Edition. This solution allows us to continue meeting our carrier and regulatory obligations, but also meets the needs being expressed by our developer community.

In the coming months, we also plan to introduce an unlockable developer device in the United States through MOTODEV, Motorola’s global developer network. Stay tuned to Motorola’s Developer site for additional info.

EU-based consumers can pre-order the Motorola RAZR Developer Edition through the Motorola Shop. Post-purchase, the MOTODEV site will contain all support info for unlocking, relocking and locating build files, as well as access to additional developer resources. The Developer Edition will have all the same great features as the Motorola RAZR: an impossibly thin design, hyper-vibrant Super AMOLED Advanced display, KEVLAR(R) fiber and more.

The preorder page is expected to go live here, though no exact date has yet been divulged. For those who pick up a dev-friendly RAZR, information regarding the unlocking (and relocking) process, as well as other developer resources will be available at Motorola's MOTODEV site.

Update: The pre-order page is now up. While we understand the need for the warranty statement (i.e. there isn't any), what about hardware defects, DOA, etc? It doesn't seem like a very fair trade at all, does it?

Comments

Sooo..... they're not really unlocking any bootloaders. They're just releasing another phone for hundreds of dollars to do what they said they would do for every other phone?

Come on Motorola. I want my Bionic unlocked!

http://www.AndroidPolice.com Artem Russakovskii

Yup, looks like unlike HTC, they're going to be more like Sony and release unlockable variants.

http://www.twitter.com/coreduo08 CoreDuo

"We won't unlock the bootloader on existing phones, but we will sell you one that is."

Way to go, Motorola.

nexus15

I hope google smacks Sanjay Jha it the face. This is a HUGE insult to users, but on the other hand you had to be stupid enough to buy a razr knowing they dont unlock bootloaders and this is just icing on the cake.

Mgamerz

This will be great for all the Droid Razr owners...
Oh wait. No it won't. Cause they still have the bootloader locked. F***ing brilliant motorola! Brilliant!

John

RAZR, RAZR MAXX, and unlocked RAZR all within a few months. Is this the plan to slow down the release cycle? Three versions of the same phone isn't like 3 different phones, right?

http://www.AndroidPolice.com Artem Russakovskii

Well, they do all run the same software, so keeping up with software updates will be easy, but yeah, people would have much preferred for existing devices to be unlockable.

Caleb B

Unlock my A2. Never buying Motorola again

Tim

This is ridiculous and going to piss off all the other Motorola device owners with locked bootloaders. Fix the software issue with a software update!

Topgun

Wow, if they still keep our Razr's locked...and not offer us anything to "upgrade" they are REALLY going to piss off the community. They forget that we are the ones that recommend phones to friends and family that know nothing about it. We are small, but loud. At least HTC recognized that. As soon as HTC releases a decent LTE phone on Verizon my phone is up for sale or in the trash. I will just pay full price. I will also make sure that anyone/everyone I know NEVER buys Moto again.

angermeans

I agree with you, but I stopped buying Motorola back when they first released an encrypted bootloader (with exception of the GED Xoom). I feel bad that you are feeling this way, but you bought the phone knowing it was locked, right? Why are you so upset now? I am pretty sure after 2 years of locking down phones people should have expected this from Motorola.

Topgun

I bought the phone because they stated publicy that they would be unlocking their phones by the end of 2011. That was a promise. Instead, they are doing dev phones. So my purchase that I can no longer return is useless to me for my purposes. I trusted them to follow through with their word and they failed.

Blahbal

if you really care about your friends, meet THEIR demands. Its like recommending an iPhone to your father, its the only fair and right decision to make, doesnt matter wether you like Apple or not. Your friends do not care about bootloaders at all, its a good phone and if you think you can leave them with it, its the right choice

Topgun

Apples to Apples, If its a toss up between the Rezound or Razr or Razr and Nexus, Gonna lean against Moto. I will not steer my friends wrong. We all have personal preferences and the way a company treats a customer after they make a purchase is just as if not more important how they treat them before. At this point it seems that Moto would rather force their customer to upgrade rather than support their previous devices. Hence, I will lean them at Sammy, HTC, or Apple.

http://facebook.com/smsmycarandme Force

Ah damn, it is just a phone with an unlocked bootloader. Why do they actually call these "developer's phones"?
I would think, a dev phone is a pre-rooted phone with some gimmicks like inbuilt logcat access on the phone.

http://facebook.com/smsmycarandme Force

Also it is sold without warranty - WTF?

Mithra

Wow, VERY annoyed about this. They promise they'll unlock the RAZR and instead release a separate version that is unlocked? Wtf.. Needless to say I won't be getting a Motorola device again..

Matt

This is a crock of sh!t. I'm so glad I sold my Bionic and bought a Nexus. Until there's an "across-the-board" solution, F Motorola. How many times are they going to screw over their customers?